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Modern Slavery: 2020 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery

Baroness Williams of Trafford: My rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department (Priti Patel) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:Today, I am publishing the 2020 UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery. The Report covers the whole of the UK and has been drafted in collaboration with the Northern Ireland Executive, the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government. This report sets out an assessment of the scale of modern slavery in the UK and outlines the actions that have been taken to combat it over the last year. A copy of the report will be available on Gov.uk and placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Department for Work and Pensions

Private Pensions: Simpler Annual Benefit Statements

Baroness Stedman-Scott: My honourable Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Pensions & Financial Inclusion (Guy Opperman MP) has made the following Written Statement.The Government has published its response to the consultation on the approach to delivering simpler annual pension benefit statements. Participation in pension saving has been transformed through the success of Automatic Enrolment. However, there is a growing likelihood that people will have a number of different jobs in their lifetime, and therefore multiple pension pots and annual pension statements. This is why the Government’s ambition is for pension benefit statements to be simpler, more consistent and jargon free. Consistency across pension benefit statements will help savers better understand their pensions and effectively plan for retirement. A standardised template will be more accessible, drive member engagement and signpost members to detailed information on costs and charges and investment strategy. It will also complement the work Government is doing with the pensions dashboard to bring pensions online to your phone or laptop. We will focus first on Defined Contribution schemes used for Automatic Enrolment, but it remains the long term ambition to improve consistency across all schemes. We will consult later this year on draft regulations for a mandated approach to simpler statements, working with industry on the detailed design of the Regulations and associated statutory guidance. In addition, Government will work with the pensions industry to introduce a statement season, building on the success of pensions awareness month. It will support the normalisation of workplace pension saving, provoke debate amongst the public and enable easier comparison between statements and providers. These measures will help individuals engage with their workplace pension savings, and enable savers to achieve greater financial security in retirement.

Department of Health and Social Care

THE HUMAN MEDICINES (CORONAVIRUS AND INFLUENZA) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS 2020

Lord Bethell: My Hon Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Prevention, Public Health and Primary Care) (Jo Churchill) has made the following written statement:The primary objective of our policy is to support the expansion of the annual seasonal flu vaccination campaign and to support the successful roll-out of a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine. Throughout the Coronavirus outbreak, the government has brought in the right measures at the right time, based on the most relevant and up-to-date scientific advancements and advice. As the UK enters the ‘flu season’ where domestic transmission is rising, it is important that the Government can respond swiftly and effectively to the current situation.The independent Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) will advise the UK government on the safety, quality and efficacy of any vaccine; no vaccine will be deployed unless stringent standards have been met through a comprehensive clinical trial programme. The preferred route to enable deployment of any vaccine, including new vaccines for COVID-19, remains through the usual marketing authorisation (product licensing) processes.In the interests of patient safety and bringing the pandemic to an end which will allow life to restore to normality, the Human Medicine (Coronavirus and Influenza) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2020 will come into force, for the most part, on 3 November 2020, although some provisions need to be brought into force on the day after they are laid before Parliament. Our plan is to bolster the safeguards to product authorisation and to improve access to necessary vaccines in order to protect the public ahead of the winter and beyond; and ultimately reduce mortality.The Regulations introduce measures to support the safe future mass rollout of a Covid-19 vaccine, and the expansion of the annual seasonal flu vaccination programme, and include bringing the 5 main changes into effect:Reinforcing temporary authorisation measures to provide for the attaching of conditions, a technical change in order to make sure that any unlicensed products that the government recommends for deployment in response to certain public health threats must meet required safety and quality standards;Expanding the workforce able to administer Covid-19 and flu vaccines to improve access and protect the public, including by new immunisation protocols for COVID-19 and flu vaccines;Rationalising the scope of the pre-existing partial immunity from civil liability for the pharmaceutical companies whose unlicensed products are recommended for use by the government in response to certain public health threats, and also extending that partial immunity to all members of the additional workforce that could be allowed to administer temporarily authorised vaccinations under the new immunisation protocols;Ensuring that treatments used in response to certain specific types of public health threat can be promoted by advertisements to the public as part of national campaigns;The provision of an exemption from the need for a wholesale dealer’s licence to allow the swift and safe transfer of COVID-19 and flu vaccines, and other medicines for treatment of pandemic disease, in response to patient need, by NHS and armed services providers at the end of the supply chain.If a COVID-19 vaccine is ready for deployment prior to 1 January 2021, these measures will bolster existing temporary authorisation powers that allow the MHRA to consider approving its use, before a full product licence is granted - provided it is proven to be safe and effective during the extensive clinical trials. The measures are especially necessary in the context of the transition period because until its end any full product licence for a potential Covid-19 vaccine must be granted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA).The UK government has sought views on proposals to make changes, in conjunction with the Minister of Health in Northern Ireland, to the Human Medicine Regulations 2012. The Department has further welcomed views from any interested individual or organisation through a public consultation which ran from 28 August and closed on 18 September, also holding discussions about the proposals with specialists and key stakeholders in tandem. We welcome the participation of all individuals and organisations who contributed to the consultation and received over 188,000 responses. We analysed these responses and based on feedback made three key changes to the content of the legislation, which are explained in the Explanatory Memorandum published alongside the instrument.The Explanatory Memorandum published with the instrument also explains why some of the provisions of this instrument breach the rule that provisions of statutory instruments subject to the negative procedure should normally be laid 21 days before the instrument comes into force. The measures that are being brought into force in breach of the 21-day rule are essentially permissive and enabling. The priority action is to support the annual flu vaccination rollout, delaying their implementation could increase the incidence of the influenza in the UK. Currently a safe effective vaccine for Covid-19 to deploy is subject to the outcome of clinical trials. However, any delay to the annual vaccination rollout would hamper an important aspect of the COVID-19 fightback.The independent Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will advise the UK government on which COVID-19 vaccine/s the UK should use, and on the priority groups to receive the vaccine based on the best available clinical, modelling and epidemiological data. This will depend on the properties of the vaccine, those most at need (including health and care ‘frontline’ workers) and the medical circumstances of individuals. Updated JCVI advice can be found here.

Treasury

Future Regulatory Framework Review and Solvency II Review

Lord Agnew of Oulton: My honourable friend the Economic Secretary to theTreasury (John Glen) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement.In the written statement Financial Services Update on 23 June [HCWS309], the Chancellor announced that the Government would commence the next stage of the Future Regulatory Framework (FRF) Review and bring forward a review of certain features of Solvency II, the prudential regulatory regime for insurance firms. The Government has today laid the first FRF consultation on the wider regulatory framework for financial services and published a call for evidence as the first stage of the Solvency II Review. These reviews reflect the Government’s aim to make financial services regulation better tailored to the needs of the UK economy and its citizens, and to support the UK’s world-class financial services sector. Following the completion of Phase I of the FRF Review, which focused on improving coordination between the UK’s financial services regulatory bodies, the Government is progressing with Phase II of the Review, which will examine how the wider regulatory framework for financial services should adapt now that the UK has left the EU. The important and wide-ranging issues raised by this Review, combined with the broad range of stakeholders that will be affected, make an in-depth review process appropriate. The Government will therefore consult in two stages, starting with the first consultation published today. Leaving the EU provides an opportunity to shape our regulatory framework for financial services so that it is more coherent, agile and democratically accountable to support a stable, innovative and world leading financial services sector. The consultation proposes an overall approach that builds on the strengths of the UK’s existing domestic framework by:Providing a clear and coherent allocation of regulatory responsibilities between Parliament, the Government and the financial services regulators.Setting out a legislative approach under which Government and Parliament can establish an enhanced policy framework within which the regulators must operate.Making the UK’s expert, operationally independent regulators responsible for setting direct regulatory requirements on financial services firms and markets, according to the policy framework set by Government and Parliament.Reviewing accountability, scrutiny and public engagement arrangements, particularly in relation to the financial services regulators, so that these arrangements can be strengthened to reflect the regulators’ expanded responsibilities. This first consultation is intended to generate a wide-ranging debate about the UK’s overall regulatory approach for financial services. The views gathered through the first consultation will then be used to develop a final package of proposals which will be set out in a second consultation during 2021. The Government is reviewing Solvency II to ensure that the UK’s prudential regulatory regime for the insurance sector is better tailored to support the unique features of the UK sector and the UK regulatory approach. The review will focus on several specific areas of Solvency II, including the risk margin, matching adjustment, and reporting requirements, but the review will not necessarily be limited to these areas. The Solvency II Review will be guided by three objectives:To spur a vibrant, innovative, and internationally competitive insurance sector.To protect policyholders and ensure the safety and soundness of firms.To support insurance firms to provide long-term capital to support growth, including investment in infrastructure, venture capital and growth equity, and other long-term productive assets, as well as investment consistent with the Government’s climate change objectives.Both publications are available on www.gov.uk and will be open for responses until 19 January 2021.The Future Regulatory Framework Review consultation https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/future-regulatory-framework-frf-review-consultationSolvency II Review call for evidence https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/solvency-ii-review-call-for-evidence